You Were The One
by nerdyfreak15
Summary: "I'm the guy for you." Lucas Scott once said to Brooke Davis. "Lucas is the one for me." Lucas Scott returns to Tree Hill several years later, realizing that Brooke is the one for him, but what if they both have families of their own now?
1. Eve of Departure

It was a warm night, past the hour of ten or so. The stars were shining bright and the wind was singing to Lucas Scott and Brooke Davis as they sat there together in the silence.

"So you're leaving Tree Hill just like that?" Brooke asked Lucas.

They were sitting beside each other on the benches of the river court just like old times. Tomorrow he'll be leaving for California along with his wife, her best friend, Peyton, and their beautiful newborn daughter, Sawyer. She didn't really want to see him tonight, knowing that by tomorrow he'll be gone, but he insisted, since they were, after all, friends.

"I think it's best for my career, and for Peyton's... and for Sawyer's future." he went on as he fiddled with his ring. Somehow, Brooke knew what was going on in his mind. Had he made the right decision?

She looked at him, the boy that she loved, the boy that she would've given up the world for. "Why'd you ask me to go here? Why not Nathan or Haley?" Brooke questioned, knowing that he didn't just want to say goodbye.

"You know about our past, Brooke." he looked at her as well.

"What about our past?" she asked, brushing it off, acting oblivious to their past. Of course she knew about their past. How could she not?

Lucas smiled that subtle smile of his and let out a soft chuckle, "Remember all those times that I told you I was the guy for you?"

Of course she did. That night on the beach, that night outside his house, that night right here on the river court - all of it. "You sure got that wrong." she giggled, making a light situation out of all of this.

Lucas' smile turned into a straight face, that oh so famous brooding face of his. He looked back up at Brooke and asked, "What if it isn't?"

Brooke's eyes widened. He couldn't be saying that now. He was married to her best friend. They have a newborn daughter. They're leaving, tomorrow. He can't just have second thoughts now of all moments.

He worried that what he said shocked her. He tried to further explain the confusion he was feeling, "I mean, what if that wasn't what I was wrong about?" he wondered, "What if I was wrong about an entirely different thing?"

She knew what he meant. She panicked. Tears were welling in her eyes, "No, no, no." she shook her head, "You can't do this to me. You can't do this to Peyton..." a tear shed, "You can't do this to Sawyer."

His eyebrows furrowed together, "Can I do this to myself?" he asked to himself more than to Selena, "Can I commit myself to a family with a girl I'm having second thoughts about?"

She reached out for his hand, "Luke...", she stroked it.

Lucas wiped the tear off her face with his thumb, "I never had second thoughts about you." he caressed her face and she closed her eyes, feeling his caress, "I was pretty sure you were the one." he told her, "All those moments we had together. I really, honestly, never loved the way I loved you." He faced her towards him, "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me." he said, "Because if you do, I'm going fight for this.. for us. But if you don't, I'm going on that plane tomorrow."

Brooke just stared at him. She didn't want him to go. She wanted to be with him. She wanted all the things that Peyton had with him. She wanted to be his one and only. She sighed. He couldn't seriously expect an answer from her.

Lucas was getting impatient. He didn't have much time left. He needed to know that she still felt the same. He prayed that she still felt the same. He bit his lip and leaned in towards her, cupping her soft angelic face into his hands, and giving her a light kiss on the lips, "Pretty girl?" he looked for an answer.

Brooke felt out of breath with that short but sumptuous moment. She was sure now more than ever that she still had feelings for Lucas and will always have them. She ran her fingers through his blonde locks. Lucas smiled, feeling that her answer was a yes. She lightly shook her head, "Go to California, Luke." she told him as Lucas' world came crashing down by her answer. "Goodbye." she said, getting up on her feet and walking away, wiping the tears that have fallen down her face.

"Goodbye forever.


	2. A Perfect Life

Tree Hill, North Carolina

It was the first day of June, Julian and Brooke had spent the whole day with their two rambunctious little twin boys, Davis and Jude. It was one heck of a day, and the two were as tired as hell after tucking in their little angels to sleep. Brooke lingered a little as she watched the two little boys she never thought she'd ever have dwell in their sweet slumber.

Julian wrapped his arms around his wife, "You're an amazing mother." he whispered into her ear.

Brooke smiled and messed with Julian's head full of chocolate brown hair, "And you're an amazing father." she giggled.

He smiled along with her, "I love you." he said.

Brooke's smile faded as she remembered that there was a reality of tomorrow, "Do you really have to go?" she pouted.

Julian tucked in his wife's hair, "You know that I have to." he explained to her for probably the thousandth time that day alone, "It's a big movie project that my company could really use."

Brooke nodded, not really happy about the whole situation, "I know, I know..." she sighed.

He looked into her eyes, "It's only going to be for a few months, babe." he assured her.

She looked back at him with worry, "A lot can happen in a few months, Julian."

He chuckled, "Like what?"

Brooke tried not to tear up at the thought of all the things that could happen in a few months notice, "The boys' first words? The boys' birthday?" she went on and on, "I don't want you to miss out on any of that."

"Hey." he told her, "I wouldn't want to miss those stuff too, but you know that I'll be here for you and our sons in spirit if not in presence."

Her eyes were becoming watery, "What if you get tempted over there?" she questioned, "You know how California is." she bit her lip, remembering that the last time Julian had been there, he was head over heels for her best friend of all people.

He found it amusing that his wife, the only girl he ever really had eyes for, could ever think that he would stray. "You know me." he says as he wipes the tears off of his wife's face, "I'm the luckiest guy in the world." She looked at him, not really knowing where he was going with this, "I married the most beautiful girl in the world." he said.

Brooke felt the new tears coming on as tears of joy rather than sorrow. "Call me, every day." she instructed him. She threw her arms over her husband's broad shoulders and took him into a deep passionate kiss.

"Of course." he said in between her kisses as he swept her off her feet.

"I love you Julian Andrew Baker." she finally said to him after all that worry. He smiled at her,"I love you too, Brooke Penelope Davis-Baker." he winked at her as he carried her into the master bedroom and closed the door behind hi


	3. This Isn't a Home

Los Angeles, California

"You never loved me, Luke!" Peyton yelled as she threw a vase into the wall of their bedroom, just missing Lucas by a few inches.

Lucas didn't know who this was in front of him. Was this really the person he had married? "Oh, great." he responded to her actions, "You cheat on me with your client, and I'm the one who never loved you!" he yelled out sarcastically.

"At least he made me feel loved." she growled at him.

Lucas' jaws dropped, "Don't you dare tell me that I never loved you, because I did and you know that!" he yelled back at her.

"No, Luke, you didn't!" she screeched,"Maybe for a brief time in high school..." she sighed "...but ever since we got married, I never felt that you loved me." she said through gritted teeth. She turned her back away and returned to taking out her clothes from inside the closet, the task she had been doing before Lucas oh so rudely interrupted her.

"Oh really?" he said, but she ignored him. He couldn't believe it. He was talking to her and she turns her back away just like that. "Why tell me this now? Why not before we got married, huh?" he ceased her, "We could've saved each other a whole lot of pain."

She faced him once more and cried, "Because I loved you, Lucas!" tears flowed out of her eyes, "I wanted you. I wanted everything with you." she hugged herself, trying to stop the tears from falling, "I wanted to believe that Sawyer wasn't a mistake. I wanted to believe that we could be a family." she took a few steps and held on to him, "I wanted to believe that you loved me."

"I do, Peyton. Believe me when I say that." Lucas took her into his arms, "Sawyer is not a mistake." he said as he stroked his wife's hair.

"Yes she is, Lucas!" Peyton exclaimed, breaking away from Lucas' embrace, "We should've never had her, neither of us would be in this situation right now! She was the biggest mistake of my life!"

"Sawyer is not a mistake." he reiterated as he clenched his fists together. He tried to brush it off the first time she said it, but it just hurt the second time Peyton said those words. There were only a few things he could take, and having his daughter being called a bastard from her own mother nonetheless wasn't one of them. How could she even think that of their daughter?

"She is a mistake to you too and you know it!" Peyton pointed her finger at him.

"I am?" a bewildered Sawyer asked from behind them. She was peeping through the half-open door with her teddy in hand and her blanket in the other. Peyton just stared at her. Lucas rushed to her side almost instantaneously. She started to cry.

He bent down to her five year-old daughter's level. "No, no, no..." Lucas said as he wiped the hot tears off his daughter's eyes with his thumb. "Of course, you're not, pretty girl." he tried to comfort her. Sawyer wrapped her arms around her father's and cried into his shoulder. Lucas picked her up and cradled her.

"I-I didn't mean to." Peyton stuttered, keeping her distance away from both her husband and her daughter.

"Don't pack your bags, Peyton." Lucas said gravely, "We'll leave. I want an annulment, not a divorce." he said before he took his crying daughter with him and made his way down the stairs.

Peyton ran after them, "Where do you think you're going, huh?"

Lucas ignored Peyton and loaded Sawyer into the car. He shut the door to the passenger side just as Peyton caught up to them, "Answer me!" she cried, hitting him.

Lucas took hold of Peyton's arms to stop her from going any further. "Home." he said frankly.

"What are you talking about?" she yelled hysterically, "This is Sawyer's home."

"Look at what's around us, Peyton!" Lucas yelled as he pointed around the hustle and bustle of their Los Angeles neighborhood. Lucas shook his head, "This isn't our home, Peyton." he said to her, "Tree Hill is."

Peyton froze at where she was. The mention of those words paralyzed her. She had brought her family to California to get away from Tree Hill, from the life they used to have... from the girl that Lucas loved. Peyton knew there was nothing more she could do to stop him. Lucas slowly let go of her and got into the car. He could still hear his daughter's sobs beside him. He turned on the ignition and watched Peyton slowly back away from the driveway. "Don't go." he saw her mouth at him through her tear-stained face. He drove away anyways


	4. The Return

Tree Hill, North Carolina

"How's California?" Brooke asked to her husband from the other end of the phone as she wiped the countertops in the cafe. It has been a slow day for business. Brooke listened intently as her husband told her tales of his project in Los Angeles. He's been there a little over a week and yet it felt like forever. She missed him so and couldn't wait until the summer was over so that she could be in his arms again.

Brooke heard the door's bell jingle as a little girl, complete with a teddy bear in hand, made her way inside the cafe, "I'll call you later, I love you." she told Julian then promptly placed her phone inside her pocket. She leaned over the counters and flashed her most welcoming smile to her. This girl looked an awful lot like an old friend of hers... a friend no more. "Hi! What can I get you little lady?" she asked her.

The little girl put her hands behind her and grinned widely a smile that was missing a tooth. Brooke has never seen anything so adorable. "Can I have a chocolate chip cookie please?" the little girl batted her eyelashes at Brooke.

Brooke took out a cookie from the jar and gave it to the little girl who nibbled on it almost right away, "What's your name, sweetie?" she asked her, fascinated. Brooke had always wanted a daughter. Maybe one day she and Julian might have one.

"Sawyer." she answered in her sweet little voice.

"That's a pretty name." A name that rung a bell. Brooke shrugged the thought of any possibility of it and giggled, "Where are your parents then, Sawyer?"

The little girl shrugged, "I don't know where my mom is... but my daddy is just parking the car. He told me to wait for him outside, but I smelled the cookies in here and I just had to get some."

Brooke couldn't help but giggle. This girl was beyond cute.

The door's bell rung once again and this time a tall man with shades and blonde hair went rushing into the room, "I'm sorry about my daughter, let me pay you for your troubles." he said, digging into his wallet, not really looking up. Brooke could recognize those blonde locks from a mile away. It can't be him. "Here." the guy said, handing the money over to Brooke and finally looking up at her, "Brooke?" he couldn't help but let out a soft smile, that same subtle smile of his.

Brooke didn't quite know how to react, "Luke." she managed to blurt out. She froze to where she was, more stunned than she was happy to see Lucas again. She never thought she'd see him after that night, and she kind of hoped that she wouldn't.

"Brooke!" Haley, her good friend and business partner, called from inside the kitchen, "The pastries are ready!" she said as she pushed the door in front of her with a tray full of bread in her hands.

Both Brooke and Lucas looked at her. "Hey Hales." Lucas said as he saw his childhood best friend come out from behind the door.

Haley dropped the tray on the floor, "LUCAS?!" she screeched as she threw herself into her best friend's arms, "Oh God, I missed you!"

Lucas hugged her back and stroked her hair, not taking his gaze off of Brooke, who had chosen to attend to the pile of wasted pastry that Haley had left. If Haley wasn't strangling him right now, he would probably have helped Brooke out. He couldn't believe that she was even more beautiful than he had remembered. He couldn't believe that she was there right in front of him. He never thought he'd see her again


	5. Not Yet

Brooke couldn't help but stare at Lucas as he played with his nephew, Jamie, in Nathan and Haley's living room. She never thought she'd see him again. She thought that that night at the river court would be the last. Looks like she was wrong.

Nathan came shuffling in and told Jamie it was getting late and that it was past his bed time. Jamie reluctantly conceded and went on upstairs with his father. Lucas bid him his good night and took a seat across Brooke in the living room.

"So tell me..." Haley said as she cradled her sleeping daughter, Lydia, in her arms, "Where's Peyton?"

Lucas looked distraught as he heard her name. He was. After everything that has happened, how could he not be? He wasn't ready to talk about it though, not yet. "She opted to stay behind, focus on some big project of hers." he fibbed.

"Pfft." Haley let out in a way that was so Haley, "Just tell us the truth Lucas..." Was she reading his mind or something? Was he that obvious of a liar? "Peyton doesn't want to come back to Tree Hill, we're cool with that." she then said, which led Lucas to let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah..." he agreed to push away any hint of nervousness that can be seen in him, then he wondered, "You are?!"

"Of course, we are." Haley reassured, "We miss her and all but, you know how many painful memories she has buried here in Tree Hill..." Haley found herself trailing off, then she hesitated to change the topic, not wanting it to be too much of a drag being that Lucas had just returned after years and years of absence. She shifted, "Maybe Peyton will run into Julian in L.A., right Brooke?" she looked at her.

Her eyes widened, "Yeah." she agreed just for the sake of it.

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, "Julian?" that name ringed a bell, why was Haley bringing him up in the conversation? What does he have to do with them right now? "Julian Baker? The guy who wanted to make my novel into a movie?"

Haley looked at Lucas weirdly, "Yeah, Brooke's husband. Don't you remember him?"

His heart broke a little. Lucas was caught off guard, "Oh." he let out, not wanting to comment on it because it wasn't his place to do so. Brooke was married? He didn't know that... why didn't he know that? "I thought it was some other Julian..." he tried to cover up.

Brooke looked at him as he tried to explain this other Julian. Ever since his arrival, she's been at a loss for words, something Brooke never thought she'd ever run out of. She couldn't help but think of Julian, where he was right now and how he was doing. However, what she thought more about at this moment was Lucas. Why was he here? Why'd he come back? Why didn't he at least keep in touch over the years? Why didn't he attend her wedding? He had promised that he'd give a toast to her when that day arrived...

"Daddy." little Sawyer tugged at her father's sleeve from behind, "I'm sleepy." she yawned.

Lucas stopped his blabber and attended to his daughter's needs, "I guess we better go back to the inn now." he told her.

Lucas butted in, "It's late, you left your car in the inn." she told her brother-in-law, "I would drive you there myself but I have Lydia in my arms, but I'm pretty sure Brooke would be happy to drive you home."

Brooke's jaw dropped, she kept frantically signaling no to Haley, but she just glared at her.

"She would?" Lucas smiled a little, that sweet irresistible smile that always made Brooke melt.

"Of course she would." Haley confirmed, without Brooke having a word in edgewise.


	6. Sorry

Lucas sat in a deafening silence as Brooke drove her car. It was who knows what time of night, Sawyer was fast asleep in the backseat, and Brooke, the girl he thought he knew everything about, had not said a complete sentence to him since they saw each other. He wanted to change that. He came back to Tree Hill wanting to change that, but how could he now after all the things that he's learned? after all the things that he's missed...

"How's Sawyer?" Broooke started, feeling Lucas' struggles, not wanting to feel the awkwardness between the two of them. Sure, he broke her heart a couple of times, disappeared for five years without having even a single phone call or postcard or something... but they were friends, right?

"She's good." Lucas answered, "She's really in to drawing and stuff like that." he said as he looked at her. She was as beautiful as he remembered, possibly even more beautiful. But she was married. Damn it, he was married too. Why couldn't he get that out of his system?

"Just like her mother." Brooke remembered her best friend, the one she grew up with, the one she thought she would have forever - what happened to them? She couldn't help but feel teary. "Why come back?" Brooke almost stuttered, "Why didn't you call or write or anything in the past five years?" she faced him with watery eyes. She wiped them away immediately and returned her attention to the road, trying her best not to look as though it hurt when it did.

"I'm sorry, Brooke." Lucas looked down. It was all that he could say. All that he had the courage to say. Anything else he had planned to tell her on this trip of his would be inappropriate considering all that has happened in those five years apart.

"I thought we were friends." Brooke said bitterly, knowing that it hurt a little too much and that she couldn't hide that.

"We are." Lucas reached for Brooke's hand. They were only but a few feet away from the inn they were staying in, but he couldn't leave just yet, he had to clear things up with her. "I can't make up a decent excuse to have missed out on your life for the past five years."

Brooke pulled up beside the sidewalk. She looked up at Lucas. He now had her undivided attention. His thumb crept slowly towards her face and rubbed off the tear that trickled down her eye. "I'm sorry." he said again to her.

She shook him off, "That's not enough, Luke." She tried to look away from him.

He cupped her face in his hands, "I know." he sighed, "Please, let me try to make it up to you. To all of you." he swore.

Brooke took Lucas' hands off of her, "You can't just make up five years of not a single word, especially after how you left things with me." she brought him back to that night at the river court, five years ago, when he told her that he still loved her. "You can't make up for not being at my wedding, Luke. My wedding." she cried just at the thought, remembering that day and somehow wishing that Lucas would come out bursting through the church doors, telling her he loved her, or at least being there, giving a toast like he promised. He broke so many promises.

"I didn't know about the wedding." he tried to reason, "I'm brokenhearted as is to come here and find out that you've found a man that made you happy and it wasn't me."

"What?!" Brooke was startled by the last few words of his sentence, "it wasn't me" echoed inside her head. She tried to lower down her voice after that outburst, remembering that Sawyer was fast asleep in the backseat, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry." he apologized once more, "I'm not so sure what I'm saying right now."

Brooke turned away from him, "Lucas Scott, tangled up in his own words." She couldn't help but laugh. Lucas laughed a little along with her. She looked back at him, "Look, I don't want to fight."

"Me neither." he smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Sure." Lucas reached out for a hug and she hugged him back. He missed this feeling, the feeling of warmth that he had whenever they were together. He could never let go of himself the way he does when he's with her. "Good night."

"Good night." she smiled at him and he couldn't help but kiss her.


	7. Surprise

Brooke touched the her lips as though the sensation was still there, the slight sting of sparks and fireworks that was brought about by Lucas' goodbye kiss last night. It was nothing more than a friendly peck, but just the feel of his breath crashing against hers even for a mere second was something she could never truly explain. It was something that she only felt with Lucas.

Haley snapped her fingers in front of Brooke who was spacing out while manning the counters, "Hello? Earth to Brooke?" she waved her hand in front of her friend's face.

"Yeah, what?" Brooke snapped out of her daze and faced Haley.

"You've been standing there like a lunatic staring out into nothing for quite some time now, is there something you'd like to tell me?" she asked, half-concerned, mostly intrigued. Whenever Brooke was this way, there was usually something juicy that came along with it.

Brooke smiled, "I guess I just miss Julian so much." she lied. Immediately after that alibi came out of her mouth, her smile turned into a frown. Why was she thinking of Lucas that way? She should be thinking of her husband who loves her and only her, deeply, passionately.

"Okay then." Haley replied in order to avoid any drama. Brooke returned to her chores in the cafe, and then Haley remembered something she had to tell her best friend, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, Lucas will be stopping by here. I have a surprise." she winked.

Brooke's eyes widened. They really didn't talk about the kiss. It was a harmless kiss. It was just a good night kiss. It didn't seem that much to him, it shouldn't to her either. Oh no. Lucas was going to see her that early looking that wasted already. She tried fixing her hair and her apron a little, but then the bell jingled to signal that someone had entered the cafe. She looked up to see who she knew would come through those doors.

"Hey." he smiled.

"Hey." Brooke kind of gushed a little as Haley nudged her rib.

Lucas chuckled. "She's been like that the whole day." Haley explained.

"It's cool." Lucas said, "You rang?" he asked Haley.

Haley couldn't hide her excitement from her two closest friends in the world. Her smile reached both ends of her face. "Okay guys, I promised Nathan I wouldn't tell you guys until we had a venue, but..." Haley looked at both of them as though waiting for a drumroll, "We're having our vows renewed!" she yelled out.

"Oh Haley, congratulations!" Brooke said as she wrapped her in her arms, "You guys have been together for what, ten years?!"

"Yeah." Haley giggled a little, "So we thought that it would be an appropriate way of celebrating our marriage, especially now Lucas is here." Haley looked at her best friend. Oh how long it has been since her first wedding reception that was made possible by Lucas, and the second that he had a great contribution to as well. "We'd really love Sawyer to be a flower girl along with Lydia." then she turned to Brooke, the unlikely friend who's been there for her for years, "and Jude and Davis to be bearers..." Haley clasped all of their hands together, "But most importantly... we'd like you to assume the roles you had before as well..."

Lucas looked up at Brooke and remembered their big fight that day of Nathan and Haley's second wedding, how the tears fled her eyes, how the pain escaped her soul.

Brooke was staring back at Lucas, remembering the same fight he was thinking about, how they shared their last dance that day, their last real kiss as a couple before things broke apart.

Haley turned back to Brooke, "Would you be my Maid of Honor?" she asked hopefully.

Brooke slapped back into reality, "Of course I would!" she exclaimed, almost off guard.

Haley faces Lucas, "Nathan's best man?" she asked.

Lucas gave Haley a faint smile, "How could I say no?"

"Yeay!" Haley pulled the three of them into a hug. "You're the best friends in the world!"

Lucas broke away from the embrace, massaged his temples a little, "Uhm, I have to be somewhere, but, hum, I'll call you later." he excused himself and ran out the door.

Brooke stared as he walked away. Haley stared along with her, then looked at Brooke, then back at Lucas, "I'll go talk to him..." she said


	8. Secret

"Hey!" Haley called after Lucas as he continued to walk down the street, completely ignoring her. Haley hastened her pace as she tried to catch up with him, "Lucas!" she called until she was able to grab a hold of him, "What was that about?" she asked.

Lucas shook his head, obviously trying to hide or avoid something. Nonetheless, Haley knew her best friend better than he thought, and even after those years apart, Lucas was still the same.

Haley put her hands on her waist, "I know you better than that, Lucas Scott." Lucas just crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact with Haley. Haley shifted him to face him and look straight into his eyes, "You can tell me anything you know. You're my best friend, Luke."

He bit his lip as he looked into his best friend's sincerest of eyes. "I don't think I can relive that day, Hales." he looked down, remembering that second wedding of Nathan and Haley, that fight he had with Brooke. There wasn't a day that went by that Brooke's words did not echo in his head. "Maybe I was wrong to have come back here."

"What?!" Haley's eyes widened, "What made you say that? We've all missed you. You should've come back years ago." Then Haley was brought back to all those events, the good and the bad, in the past five years when she wished her best friend would've been there to experience everything along with her. "Hell, you never should've left, Luke."

"I know." he reached out for Haley's hand and took it in his. "I have to tell you something that you have to swear you won't tell to anyone, not even Nathan or Brooke." he sighed, "especially not Brooke."

"I don't think it's a good idea to hide things from them, considering that you just came back into their lives." Haley commented.

"I'll tell them when I'm ready." Lucas butted in, somewhat hesitant to admit to the truth in what Haley had said.

"Okay, okay." she resented as she breathed in, preparing to hear whatever it is was so grave that Lucas could only tell her.

Lucas took in a deep breath as well. "Peyton cheated on me." he confessed to Haley, "and I guess it's as much as my fault as hers." he shrugged a little, still hurt.

"What?!" Haley couldn't believe what she had just heard. Peyton loved Lucas so much. All Peyton ever wanted in life was Lucas. The world knew that. She thought that day that Lucas and Peyton drove into the sunset was their happy ending. She never thought that it would collapse. As Haley tried to digest the information Lucas imparted with her, she thought about the second half of what he had confessed. "Wait," she mumbled, "What do you mean it's as much as your fault as hers?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

Now this was the part that Lucas wasn't ready to let the world know, given the circumstances. It was, however, a part that he could not deny. It was a part of him. "I'm still in love with Brooke."


	9. I Missed You

Lucas had been in Tree Hill a little over a week now, but he felt as though the place he one called home wasn't quite home. He tried to distance himself as much as possible from his friends, knowing that hanging out with them would eventually lead to a discussion of Peyton and why she wasn't with him or the appearance of Brooke, which he couldn't take right now given his feelings for her and the fact that she was married. He spent his days locked up in their hotel room with Sawyer and staring at his laptop hoping to get some writing done, and ultimately failing.

Tonight, he thought maybe they'd go out for a change. The stars above them looked just as beautiful as it had the last time he was at the river court, as it had for as long as he could remember. He parked the rental car and took out a basketball from the backseat. "Are you ready to play some ball with your old man?" he asked Sawyer.

"But Daddy! We haven't pwayed basketball in like fowever!" Sawyer giggled.

"Then it's about time we started playing again, c'mon!" he invited his daughter as they stepped out of the car. They walked hand-in-hand into the court and were right about ready to play a friendly game when Lucas noticed a shadowy figure looking out into the distance. "Stay here." he instructed Sawyer as he went on to confirm his suspicions on who it was. "Brooke?"

Brooke knew that voice all too well. She turned around, "Lucas?"

"What are you doing here?" they asked each other at the same time, "I should be asking you the same question!" They both laughed at how dorky they were.

"I come here when I can't sleep. Have been going here every night that I can't sleep for the past five years." she explained.

"Why can't you sleep?" Lucas asked, concerned.

"Hey! You asked a question, I answered. Do the same." She instructed him, distracting from whatever was on her mind that night. He wasn't a part of it, better not let him be a part of it.

"Sawyer and I got bored in our hotel room and were about to play some ball, care to join us?" he offered his hand to her.

"Lucas." she giggled, "You know I suck at basketball."

"C'mon, 2-against-1, you and Sawyer against me." he tried to persuade her, "Sawyer's a pretty good ball player, she does take after me, you know." he smirked.

"Just one game." she told him as she took his hand.

"Looks like Auntie Brooke's going to join us." Lucas yelled out to Sawyer who jumped up and down in anticipation.

"You are so dead, Lucas Scott." Brooke said as Sawyer passed the ball to her and she made a three-point shot right there and then. Sawyer clapped her hands together and Lucas' jaw dropped.

"I thought you said you sucked!" he raised his eyebrow at her as he took in the ball and dribbled across the court.

"I guess I lied." Brooke said as she blocked him.

Their faces were but a few inches away from each other. Brooke could feel Lucas' breath crash against hers. His eyes were locked with hers as he stayed in place, dribbling the ball. He couldn't help but get lost in those brown eyes of hers as they reflected the starry sky. Brooke couldn't help but laugh at how out of focus Lucas was. In but a few seconds, she was able to steal the ball away from him.

"Hey!" he cried, completely caught off guard. He ran after her.

"Sawyer, ball!" she called out to her as she was preparing to throw the ball towards her direction. Lucas didn't make it in time. Sawyer got the ball, threw it upward with all her might and managed to score.

Lucas put his hands on his waist, "That is not fair." he joked, taking his defeat lightly.

"I missed you, Lucas Scott" Brooke smiled.

"I missed you too, Brooke Davis."


End file.
